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Andrew House, the former President and Global SEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc., reckons traditional gaming consoles are going to stick around for a while yet, but wouldn’t be drawn into commenting on when we’ll actually see a PlayStation 5 or new Xbox.
Speaking with Mike Vorhaus at the GamesBeat conference (via Polygon), and in his first public appearance since quitting Sony, House described himself as ‘bullish’ when it comes to extended console life cycles, a comment that’s bound to resonate given that PlayStation 4 is approaching its fifth birthday this year.
‘I’m very bullish on longer life cycles for consoles,’ he said. ‘Consoles are so under-represented and under-penetrated in so many markets around the globe. There’s so much potential. Let’s not forget that China is still largely [untapped].’
House made it clear he was in no position talk about a possible successor to the PS4, although it’s clear that he feels physical media is going to be a part of whatever comes next.Â
‘I don’t have any firm knowledge on this, but my sense is that you will see the disc around in the industry for a while,’ he said. ‘If you’re going to tap into some of these [developing] markets, then allowing for that more traditional physical purchase model as an option is probably no bad thing.’
The former PlayStation head honcho’s comments come in light of rampant speculation about the timing of PS5’s release, which one rumour suggested would be as early as 2018. However, industry sources speaking to Kotaku this week suggested that we are not likely to see a new PlayStation console until around 2020, which to be fair makes a lot of sense.
